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| Alh. Ibrahim Ahmed Babankawo |
Ancestors? Yes, one day someone will refer to you as an ancestor. Ancestors are those who lived before us. What kind of ancestors do you wish to be remembered as? Nigeria as formed by the colonialists was founded on a rocky and faulty foundation. This is the reason why there were cries of dissatisfaction from many different quarters. This dissatisfaction led to riots, uprisings, military interventions and eventually the civil war between Biafra and Nigeria. It continued in the form of coups and counter coups until the people eventually settled into a form of democracy which displays all the features of civil rule.
Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Babankawo, an accomplished policeman of
northern stock who among his many accomplishments was the discovery of the
decomposing corpses of Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, Chief Festus Okotie Eboh and
others who were killed in the coup of 1966. This is not intended to be a
tribute to Alh. Babankawo who died this morning; rather, it is a reminder that
our ancestors did not do well in this matter.
Our national leaders were executed and their corpses abandoned to rot in
the forest save for the vigilant policeman? Sorry the history lessons I took
did not cover that part of our national history. This is the more reason why
our children must study history in schools especially the origins of Nigeria
and the war and coups that followed. Did we ever expect that everybody will
simply forget about that aspect of our history? If we choose to be silent on
it, it will not make the memory go away.
No it does not work like this; we must go back to address these issues
of our past in order for us to make progress.
Nigeria has been battling
corruption forever and the end is still not in sight after so much
bloodshed. While not condoning
corruption, the corrupt ways of the modern leaders of Nigeria has made our past
leaders appear like novices. In what
ways were they corrupt? They were said to be partisan and reckless in spending
and also they were accuses of having mismanaged national resources; all of
these combined cannot be compared to what a local government chairman pilfers
with gross impunity in today’s Nigeria.
Not downplaying the relevance
of the Oputa panel in terms of reconciliation, there are still too many ghosts
hidden in the closet. A genuine Sovereign National Conference and review of the
Constitution that is being used now are very necessary steps that must be
taken. If we fail to go back to these
issues, then it makes sense to heed the calls from various quarters that we go
our separate ways.
All have sinned and not one
is free of guilt.
GOD bless Nigeria.
